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An emerging male market within the spa industry is causing practitioners to consider if men and women differ in their service preferences at spas. This study explored the question via a self-administered survey instrument distributed to individuals located in resort communities along the Gulf Coast of the Florida panhandle. Analysis of the responses of 107 subjects indicated significant gender differences on the importance ratings of 12 out of 18 common spa services: aromatherapy, body scrub and exfoliation, facial, fitness facilities, lymph drainage, manicure, mud or seaweed wrap, pedicure, Pilates, Shiatsu, sport massage, and yoga. The services that men and women rated similarly in decreasing order of importance were Swedish massage, nutritional counseling, steam and sauna, hydrotherapy, spa cuisine, and reflexology.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate financial benefits of spa operations in resorts by developing a spa revenue contribution technique/method.

This purpose is achieved by utilizing current industry and academic literature in the fields of hospitality and resort management.

The results show that a hypothetical resort with 300 rooms would achieve a spa revenue per occupied room of $40.08 which translates into additional annual revenue of more than $3,500,000.

One of the implications of this study is that a well‐run spa may contribute approximately US$28 per available room. Another practical implication is that spas are important generators of additional revenue as they may contribute, at times, over 20 percent to room revenue by using considerably less space than resort/hotel rooms do.

This paper derives its value from developing a specific technique to support the common notion that a well‐operated spa makes a significant contribution to resort revenues.

This study intend to investigate a theoretical model looking at how particular tourist emotions, such as “joy,” “love,” and “positive surprise,” might predict their behavior by looking at how satisfied they are with their whole experience when visiting spas, and to examine the relationship of emotional experience, destination image, satisfaction and intention to revisit for spa tourism.

A sample of 345 individuals who traveled to Alleppey as domestic tourists participated in the research study. A non-probability (purposive) sampling method in this study. The structural model was analyzed using Structural Equation modeling (SEM), and the path coefficients were examined to test the hypotheses.

The results supported the hypotheses, indicating that specific emotions, image of the destination, and satisfaction significantly impacted tourists' intentions to revisit Alleppey as a spa tourism destination. This study demonstrated that “emotions of joy, love, and positive surprise” have a considerable influence on the image of the destination and satisfaction. The findings reveal a substantial correlation between satisfaction and behavioral intention (“Intention to revisit”). The research suggests that a higher degree of satisfaction would encourage visitors to revisit the location.

The research suggests that a higher degree of satisfaction would encourage visitors to revisit the location. This research offers vital information for developing, planning, and putting into practice tourism policies in the spa tourism sector. This article focuses on domestic travelers who travel to Alleppey, so the conclusions may not be relevant to research utilizing foreign tourists.

According to the literature study, and to the authors` knowledge, only limited number of studies that look at spa tourism from a wellness perspective. Additionally, Alleppey is used in the study as the study’s setting, providing insight into the visitor experiences of this expanding spa tourism business. This study gives understanding about how emotional experience predicts behavioral intentions.

The aim of the chapter is to examine the importance and use of reviews in the marketing communication of selected spa tourism enterprises on the Internet. The subject of the research are reviews as an important part of the online reputation of spa tourism enterprises and the object of the research is marketing communication on the Internet. The chapter focuses on spas located in Slovakia. The primary sources are the results of a quantitative survey conducted by standardized observation of the websites and profiles of all spa tourism enterprises in Slovakia under study on the social networks Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube based on predetermined criteria. At the same time, the results of the primary survey are conducted by the method of questioning using the technique of structured interviews. The chapter uses theoretical research methods such as analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, and generalization. The chapter presents the results of qualitative research using the Sankey diagram, processed by Atlas.ti software. The results of the research point to the fact that spa tourism enterprises in Slovakia use their own websites and social networks to communicate in the online environment, where they monitor both positive and negative reviews. However, they often do not work with reviews systematically enough and do not make use of standardized procedures and available technologies that would enable them to manage their online reputation more effectively.

The main purpose of this chapter is to analyze the relationship between service innovation and experience creation in the context of spas, wellness and medical tourism. The objectives include providing an overview of service innovation theory and models and applying them to the spa, wellness and medical tourism sectors.

Primary research was undertaken with the purpose of identifying the most important elements in the experiences of spa and wellness guests and tourists. An online questionnaire was collected from 17 different types of spa and wellness facilities from 56 countries including all kinds of spa, wellness hotels, and retreats. Information given was based on three major demand segments: local customers, domestic tourists, and international tourists. A case study is also given of Pärnu hospital in Estonia, where innovative practices are being implemented to enhance the patient experience.

Findings suggested that some aspects of innovation (e.g., design and technology) are not as important as expected, but evidence-based treatments, medical services, and natural and local resources are.

The research gives important insights into customer preferences and current and future trends; however, the research only focused on operator rather than consumer perspectives. This would require further research.

The research findings provide useful information to operators who are trying to create innovative, unique, and competitive customer services.

Existing service innovation models are applied to new sectors (spa, wellness and medical tourism) and new insights are given into how these sectors can increase innovation and enhance customer experiences.

This study aims to construct a scale for measuring the spa hotel experiencescape in wellness tourism, clarify the mechanism through which wellness tourism experiencescape influences revisit intention and investigate the mediation roles of authenticity, memorability and organizational identification.

This study conducted content analysis of interviews, online reviews and relevant articles and used the concept of experiencescape to interpret spa hotels’ experiential environment. The stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model was used as the basis for introducing authenticity, memorability, organizational identification and revisit intention to investigate how wellness tourism experiencescape affects tourists’ behavior. In total, 488 valid questionnaires were collected at Taiwanese spa hotel clusters.

Four factors of spa hotel experiencescape were identified: health promotion treats, mental learning, unique travel experience and healthy diet. Existential authenticity–memorability and existential authenticity–organizational identification exerted full positive mediation effects in the relationship between wellness tourism experiencescape and revisit intention.

This study provides guidance on experience design for spa hotels. It promotes the consideration of existential authenticity in wellness tourism design.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised awareness of wellness, drastically increasing the potential of the wellness tourism market. This study investigated the construction of wellness tourism experiencescape and its influence, and the findings can facilitate post-pandemic restoration of the wellness tourism industry. On the basis of SOR model, a chain mediation model was proposed to reveal the influence of wellness tourism experiencescape on revisit intention. Existential authenticity was discovered to play a crucial role in the relationship between wellness tourism experiencescape and revisit intention, which suggests that existential authenticity should be considered during service design and in marketing strategies for wellness tourism.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of cyber-victimization (CV) and the moderating effect of academic stress (AS) in the link between smartphone addiction (SPA) and psychological distress (PD) among a sample of Vietnamese college students.

A total of 423 college students participated in this study. Measures of SPA, CV, AS and PD were used for data collection. Using PROCESS macro software (Model 4 and Model 1) and the bootstrapping method, the author performed a mediation analysis and a moderation analysis.

Results indicated a significant mediating effect of CV in the link between SPA and PD. Moreover, this relationship was moderated by AS.

The findings could serve as a guide for future research and mental health professionals.

This paper aims to segment spa customers based on their preferences for a set of spa attributes. With the considerable growth rate of the spa market, it is vital for spa professionals to understand spa-goers’ preferences. However, academics and industry professionals have not devised a structured method by which to manage spa customers.

A survey was conducted using a face-to-face survey with visitors to Hong Kong who had visited a spa. By applying conjoint and cluster analysis, customers could be categorized into distinct segments.

Four customer segments were identified: spa enthusiasts, high spenders, value seekers and price-sensitive spa-goers. Spa enthusiasts were the largest segment among the four, followed by value seekers, price-sensitive spa-goers and high spenders.

Given the limited academic interest in the area, this study contributes to the literature by providing insights into spa-goers’ preferences and how those preferences can be used to segment spa-goers.

Based on the different needs, preferences and socio-demographic characteristics of the four segments – spa enthusiasts, high spenders, value seekers and price-sensitive spa-goers – spa industry managers could customize their strategies and design different spa services and packages to meet the needs of the four segments.

The combined use of conjoint and cluster analysis provides a new method of market segmentation in the spa industry. This study could help spa professionals to design customized spa products for the distinct segments, and thus retain and attract more spa visitors.

No tourist segment is at present marked by such a massive expansion of offers like the ones of spa tourism. Today, only in Germany more than 350 medicinal baths and spas try to position themselves on the market highly demanded “self‐payers” (see Deutscher Heilbäderverband 2002, p. 257–573.). Even outside the spas, the offer of health‐tourism develops dynamically. The demand‐side oft he market for health‐tourism services is very promising and has initiated a world‐wide mobilization health‐conscious tourists. To be actually perceived in this very growing market, suppliers — particularly medicinal baths and spas — which have a rather “traditional” image — must distinguish themselves with a clear profile. Moreover, capital projects or business promotions require clear decisive factors towards specialization and how to position oneself in the long‐term. Last but not least it remains to be answered how medicinal baths and spas should be presented on the market at the level of tourism destinations or countries in order to differ from other spa destinations. Of course, these questions are not only a challenge for medicinal baths and spas in the German‐speaking countries. Particularly in Eastern Europe where today huge amounts of money are invested into the infrastructure of health‐tourism, a basis for long‐term support factors as well as for decision taking factors are required to align the specific offer with the needs of selected target groups. For this complex setting of tasks the European Tourism Institute (ETI) has developed a well‐aligned instrument for data‐collection, data‐evaluation and data‐analysis which makes possible consistent decisions on product development and product positioning for the individual spas well as for marketing on the regional or state level. Therefore, the comparative analysis of spas takes into consideration the needs of the market as well as the specific design of offers and the attractiveness of locations.

The usage of smartphone is interfering in many social activities including unwanted interference in the interpersonal communication. Eventually, people are becoming addicted to smartphones. In this context, the purpose of this study is to identify the factors impacting smartphone addiction (SPA) that causes disruption to social life.

With inputs from literature and theories, some hypotheses have been formulated and a conceptual model has been developed. The model later has been validated statistically using structural equation modelling technique with survey method involving 302 smartphone users in India.

The result shows that loneliness, stress and depression are the principal factors impacting addiction of smartphone to the individuals depending on their age and gender. Also, the addiction is found to be responsible for disruption of social life.

This study has scholarly and policy implications from the social perspectives. This study cannot be generalizable as it uses limited sample. Also, this study achieved 72% explanative power of the proposed model. This has been achieved with consideration of the existing variables. Consideration of other factors could have improved the model.

This study provides an improved model which can be used by the policymakers and practitioners towards framing the appropriate policy regarding smartphone usage by the individuals. This study also highlights that there is a need of a regulatory authority to monitor and restrict the smartphone usage by the young individuals who may potentially become addicted to it. This study also highlights the need for an enforceable regulation for the content showing through smartphone.

This study provides a unique theoretical model with an explanative power as high as 72%. There are limited studies which show the determinants of SPA and its consequences from social and psychological perspective in the Asian context. This study also adds to the body of knowledge regarding dark side of technology addiction. Thus, from these perspectives, this study can be considered as a unique study.